TikTok is an app that has affected many people’s lives, especially at CCHS. But how has it affected their styles? Gen Z and Gen Alphas have grown up with TikTok, and through the early development of personal style have greatly been influenced by trends stemming from TikTok.
TikTok has been the way that many teenagers and young adults have grown and developed their style. Through the introduction of microtrends, like the popular Sambas shoes, a personal style and chasing trends seem intertwined in the outfits of many teens.
According to sophomore Nadia Beizaee, “I find a lot of TikTok trends and fashion inspiration on TikTok and I try to incorporate that in my style.” By developing personal style into their favorite trends, their style continues to evolve and grow with them.
Additionally, with a massive amount of users, and an enormous amount of styles belonging to them, the fashion community of TikTok is very diverse. Because of this diversity, many people have been able to experience styles that are unique to countries foreign to them.
A widespread trend online is Stockholm style. Stockholm style is a minimalist style with neutral and darker colors, gold jewelry, glowy makeup, bouncy blowouts, and occasionally colorful accessories. It was created and popularized in Stockholm, Sweden, and because of TikTok, it has become a very popular style, especially among teenage girls.
Mikaela Holmlin, a sophomore at CCHS, admits that she has given into many trends including, “the Stockholm style like the sweaters, and the blowouts and especially the Scandinavian makeup where it’s a glowy and like really bronzed and tan, and I really like how that like looks.”
As a result of the many trends of TikTok, the app has also affected overconsumption culture. Overconsumption culture has existed since the Industrial Revolution, where the invention of the cotton gin and steam engine let cheaply made, mass-produced clothes more affordable and accessible for everyone, replacing tailors and the cottage industry processes of the past.
Although the innovations have helped clothes become more accessible to everyone, it also led to consumers purchasing large amounts of clothes because they were cheaper.
While this has existed for years, during Covid-19, many people and influencers shared their massive hauls on TikTok and other social media platforms. This influenced the younger generations to normalize overconsuming clothes, makeup, skincare, and other products to follow short-lived trends.
Through influencers, the glamorization of ‘hauls’ and haul culture has led to a standard set for many young people on the app that hauls are normal and good.
According to The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Lexie Woolums, “Influencers on social media have added to this growing consumption. People have access to information via “Get Ready With Me” vlogs on TikTok, which feature various, and (expensive) products to desire based on trends that go in and out of style in just a few short months. This cultural desire to keep up with trends causes a constantly growing urge to have more.”
With 344.1 thousand posts on TikTok under #hauls, it’s obvious that this form of overconsumption is very widespread on the social media platform. No matter the brands that the users purchase range from SHEIN to Stella McCartney. This is a societal issue, no matter the income level of consumers.
Is it an issue at Cathedral Catholic? Nadia said, “I don’t think so because I think people know their limits and what they want to style themselves as.”
Although Nadia believes that overconsumption isn’t an issue at CCHS, Mikaela disagreed, saying that the student body has “a little bit” of an overconsumption problem. If you look around CCHS nowadays, you can easily spot some trends from TikTok. From Adidas Sambas to Stanleys to senior backpacks, a lot of CCHS’s student body follows trends or has trendy items in their closets.
However, because CCHS is a uniform school, students should be able to stand out and show their own unique sense of style in their accessories. Many students use the trends they see on TikTok to incorporate into their everyday style and brighten up the sometimes dull school environment and uniformity, making these trends a bright touch in their and other students’ days.
Tiktok has and will continue to have an effect on style, and it will continue to have an effect on style, fashion, and trends around the world for years to come… or until it gets banned again.
